V.H
December 13, 2009

The Big Idea:

Many important practical and mathematical applications involve comparing quantities of one kind or another; it is important to know which method to use and how we should use them.


Essential Question:

What methods are there for comparing things?


Notes from Class:

Remember to isolate the variable and keep your labels on so that you don’t get confused at the end of your problem; if your answer is per mi^2, than you should be dividing per the mile. Remember to use unit rates, and to solve the problem as a proportion.
Unit rate – A rate in which the denominator is always 1.
Proportion – 2 ratios that are equal to each other.
(Extra) Population Density - Population density is a unit rate that compares the amount of people to area, labeled in square units. People/unit^2.

A. Which state, North Dakota, or South Dakota, has the greater population density?

South Dakota: 721,000 people/75,896 mi^2 = 9.5 people/mi^2
North Dakota: 638,000 people/68,994 mi^2 = 9.2 people/mi^2
South Dakota has the larger population density.


B. How many citizens of one state would have to move to the other state to make the population densities in the two states equal? Explain how you arrived at your answer.


75,896 mi^2 (1) mi^2
Cross multiply.
75,896 * 9.4 = 713422.4
713422.4 = 1x
713422.4/1 = 713422.4 – this is the amount of people who will stay in South Dakota.

721,000 people (who live in South Dakota)
_- 713,422.4___
= 7,577.6 people who will have to move from South Dakota to North Dakota.

Problem 5.4 Follow-Up:

Find the population density of your state. How does it compare to the population densities of North and South Dakota?
In my state, Washington D.C. (District of Columbia), which is really a federal district, the population density is 9,378 people/mi^2. This is much bigger than the population density of both Dakotas. This is probably because D.C. is more of a city-like area, and the Dakotas are not. And also this may be because the textbook holding this problem is a bit old, so time has passed and the human population has grown, exponentially.

Here's some more information about my home state:




Historical Populations[e]
Year
Population
Change
1800
8,144
-
1810
15,471
90.0%
1820
23,336
50.8%
1830
30,261
29.7%
1840
33,745
11.5%
1850
51,687
53.2%
1860
75,080
45.3%
1870
131,700
75.4%
1880
177,624
34.9%
1890
230,392
29.7%
1900
278,718
21.0%
1910
331,069
18.8%
1920
437,571
32.2%
1930
486,869
11.3%
1940
663,091
36.2%
1950
802,178
21.0%
1960
763,956
-4.8%
1970
756,510
-1.0%
1980
638,333
-15.6%
1990
606,900
-4.9%
2000
572,059
-5.7%
2008
591,833[1]
3.5%

Weather data for Washington, District of Columbia ||
Month
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Year
Record high °F (°C)
79
(26)
84
(29)
93
(34)
95
(35)
99
(37)
102
(39)
106
(41)
106
(41)
104
(40)
96
(36)
86
(30)
79
(26)
106
(41)
Average high °F (°C)
42
(6)
47
(8)
56
(13)
66
(19)
75
(24)
84
(29)
88
(31)
86
(30)
79
(26)
68
(20)
57
(14)
47
(8)
66
(19)
Average low °F (°C)
27
(-3)
30
(-1)
37
(3)
46
(8)
56
(13)
65
(18)
70
(21)
69
(21)
62
(17)
50
(10)
40
(4)
32
(0)
49
(9)
Record low °F (°C)
-14
(-26)
-15
(-26)
4
(-16)
15
(-9)
33
(1)
43
(6)
52
(11)
49
(9)
36
(2)
26
(-3)
11
(-12)
-13
(-25)
-15
(-26)
Precipitation inches (mm)
3.2
(81.3)
2.6
(66)
3.6
(91.4)
2.8
(71.1)
3.8
(96.5)
3.1
(78.7)
3.6
(91.4)
3.4
(86.4)
3.8
(96.5)
3.2
(81.3)
3.0
(76.2)
3.0
(76.2)
39.1
(993.1)
Snowfall inches (mm)
5.3
(134.6)
5.3
(134.6)
2.1
(53.3)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.8
(20.3)
3.1
(78.7)
16.6
(421.6)
Avg. rainy days
10
9
11
10
11
9
13
9
8
7
9
9
115
Source: The Weather Channel[52] Weatherbase.com[53] August 2009